A Late Night Visit
by SD
Summary: An author gets a surprise visit at midnight.


Author's Note: This is just something I wrote to vent my frustration with characters that just never seem to cooperate. And also to give me an excuse to have the book characters meet the TV characters. 

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It was late at night. I sat in my room alone, my roommate out at a party, while I sat with my eyes glazed over staring at my computer screen. I was trying to finish a story I had started months ago, but had abandoned due to summer vacation and the start of the new term. I blinked several times, then returned to staring at the story, wishing I knew how to finish it. I added a line from Tobias. 

"TOBIAS: As you said before, Rachel, we can't change what is. We just have to deal with it. (pause) And Rachel, I am dealing with it. I'm OK with who and what I am. Being a hawk is an important part of me now. And as long as I've got friends like you...I'll be OK." 

Suddenly, a small figure appeared at the bottom of my screen. It's a kid, a scrawny kid with messy blond hair. He seemed to be reading the text above him. He turned to me indignantly. 

"Hey! I wouldn't say that! That is SO overdramatic. I'm not like that!" 

I shook my head, and blinked again. The little kid was still there. He was now over at the scroll bar, scrolling through the whole document. I felt really dumb, but, seeing how I was alone, and no one would ever know I was talking to my computer, I asked, "Who are you?" 

The kid stopped scrolling and looked at me. He had a wounded expression on his face. "Boy, you're writing a story about me, and you don't even recognize me. No wonder you're getting my character all wrong." He said sadly. 

I had finally lost it. I was hallucinating, making my characters come to life on my computer screen! I decided to play along. "Oh, you're Tobias! Of course! I knew that." 

"Well, you obviously don't know me very well. Where did all this stuff come from? How can I have flashbacks of stuff that never happened?" 

"Oh," I said, thinking quickly. "This story isn't about you." 

"What?! Of course it is. There's my name." He pointed to his name on the screen. "That's my morph," he pointed to the word hawk. Then he pointed to Rachel's name. "And that's my... umm... my Rachel!!! I would say this story is about me." 

"No, you don't understand." I explained. "This is about Tobias, but not you, the other Tobias." Oh yeah, clear as mud. 

Tobias looked at me skeptically. "The other Tobias. The one that's overdramatic and sappy and ..." He is interrupted by a loud shout from the toolbar. 

"I am not sappy!" A dark haired boy in a black leather jacket slides down the scrollbar and walks over to Tobias. I am left speechless for a moment, but recover quickly and question the newcomer. "Who are you?" 

He glances sideways at the blond boy, then looks up at me. "I'm Tobias." 

The blond kid rolls his eyes, "You are not Tobias. I am Tobias." 

The dark haired one shrugs a little, "Ok, I'm not really Tobias. I just play him on TV." He turns to the blond Tobias and sticks out his hand, "Hi, I'm Chris, it's an honor to meet you." Tobias avoids Chris's hand and looks at me suspiciously. 

"What is going on here?" He demands. 

"Why are you asking me? What makes you think I know?" I ask innocently. 

"Well, you're the author, aren't you omnipotent?" 

"No. I'm just a college student." 

Tobias gives me a pitying look. "K.A. is omnipotent." 

"Yes, I know. She is the mighty K.A., I'm just a college student trying to keep my sanity through writing." 

Tobias sighs, then says, "Well, can you at least tell me where he came from, and why he thinks he's me?" 

"Oh, that's easy. He's Christopher Ralph. He plays the Tobias character on the Animorphs TV show." 

Tobias looks angry. "How come they never told us about making a TV show? How come I couldn't play my own character? He doesn't even look like me!" 

Chris looks slightly hurt by Tobias's outburst, but says nothing. Great, it's up to me to explain. 

"Well, since you're out fighting the Yeerks, you couldn't possibly do a TV show at the same time. So, they found other people to play your parts." 

"Well," Tobias says, "they could have at least found someone who looks like me." 

"There's nothing wrong with the way he looks." Quite the understatement. 

"You think he's cuter than me!" Tobias accuses. 

"I didn't say that!" Why am I arguing with an imaginary boy in my computer? "Do you really?" Chris asks. 

"You are both very cute. Can I finish my story now?" 

"Well, I don't know, I don't want people to think I'm pathetic." Tobias complains, looking up at the text. 

"Are you saying I'm pathetic?" Chris says as he towers over Tobias. 

"No, I'm just saying that I don't think you're going to impress Rachel talking like that." Tobias thinks a moment. "Wait a minute, I don't want to you impress Rachel! I'm the one that's supposed to impress Rachel!" 

I tap the screen to get their attention. "Excuse me, but I really need to finish this story." 

Chris glares at me for interrupting. "My Rachel is different than your Rachel." 

"I bet my Rachel's prettier." Tobias says smugly. 

"I don't know, and I really don't care. I'm just an actor. I just play the part." Chris seems annoyed with Tobias. 

"Who plays your Rachel?" 

"Brooke Nevin. She's really nice, and a pretty good actress." 

"Well, how about we go order some pizza and you can tell me about the TV show." Tobias suggests. 

Chris shrugs "Sounds good. You can help me work on playing your character right." 

"Great!" Tobias and Chris walk offscreen. 

"FINALLY!" I yell. I can finish my story. I am more determined than ever to finish the story and I start typing furiously. 

"RACHEL: You know I'll always be there for you, Tobias. TOBIAS: I know. She hugs him tightly, not wanting to let go. He leans over and kisses her on the lips. 

"Oooh, I like that." Who said that? I look at the screen. A small blond haired girl is gazing at the words above her. 

"Let me guess," I begin. "You're Rachel." 

"No kidding." She says. "So, what happens next?" I add the next line. 

"They separate and the human Tobias fades into the darkness." 

"No. Bad idea." Rachel says forcefully. 

"Well, it can't last forever." I tell her. 

"And why not? This IS fanfiction, isn't it? You can do whatever you want." 

"I'm into REALISTIC fanfiction. I don't do crazy stuff that no one will believe." 

"Well, fine then. Write your REALISTIC story. But don't expect any help from ME." She storms off the screen. 

I sigh and turn back to my story. I begin typing the next line. 

"Rachel . . ." 

Wait a minute! I can't write any more. My mind is blank! That's not fair. As soon as I get peace and quiet, I lose my train of thought. I pout, save the file, and turn off the computer. 

As soon as I turn off the lights, trying to sleep, the ending comes to me. 

"Rachel holds out her arm, and Tobias (the hawk) flutters up and lands on it. Rachel unhooks the projector from her pocket and turns it off. The blackness fades and they are once again a girl and a hawk in the woods. They stare intently into each other's eyes for a moment. Then shake off their melancholy feelings." RACHEL perkily: I feel like flying home, how about you? You wanna escort me home? Tobias laughs in thought-speak and watches from a tree as Rachel morphs a hawk. When she's done morphing, they fly away together." 

Of course, I'll probably never remember it in the morning. 


End file.
